


Transitions:  Breakouts, Duties, and Final Obligation I

by yinyang2261



Series: Transitions [10]
Category: The Tomorrow People (1973), The Tomorrow People (1992)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-11
Updated: 2019-04-11
Packaged: 2020-01-11 08:11:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 20,118
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18426543
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yinyang2261/pseuds/yinyang2261
Summary: Stephen and Carol take lead on new breakouts throughout the world.The Transitions storyline will cover events from March 1979 to June 1980.





	Transitions:  Breakouts, Duties, and Final Obligation I

**Author's Note:**

> Part 1 of a two-part story which happens concurrently with Breakouts, Duties, and Final Obligation II.
> 
> Mild language.  
> \brackets denotes speaking in native language\

Prologue

Island in the South Pacific  
July 1979

Dr. Rudolph Menze was eyeing the distant upcoming storm coming toward the island. He was perturbed and nervous that too much time delayed would nix the trip to his lab in Argentina. He had been pacing for the better part of ten minutes when the sound of vehicles approaching put his mind at ease. The military style jeep and truck carrying the men and equipment needed for the lab came to a halt in a cloud of dust, causing Dr. Menze to cough and cover his eyes.

The activity gathered momentum as individuals from the back of the truck jumped out and began to gather the equipment to be loaded on the waiting plane on the dusty tarmac. Dr. Menze recognized the blond-haired man in the passenger seat who had a very bored look on his features.

“Dr. Menze, how are you this fine morning?” Jedikiah tiredly said as he looked directly at the perturbed physician

“Let’s dispense with the pleasantries Jedikiah. You’re late. Have you no sense of schedule, especially when a major storm is about to hit this island?”

At just over six feet tall, Jedikiah liked to think of himself as a very imposing figure and he used this height advantage to walk over to the doctor, who had been responsible for putting him back in his original, biological body four years prior, and stood over him, menacingly.

“Dr. Menze, while I appreciate all you’ve done for me from years past, I would like to believe that I have at least, gained your respect in regards to our shared…passion for research. Your tone is unbecoming of an…equal associate,” Jedikiah replied with a touch of sarcasm for the last two words he spoke.

The former captive whose mind had once been imprisoned within the confines of a shape-changing robot continued to glare down at the five-foot-tall scientist; who seemed to have become deflated from Jedikiah’s physical presence.

“Well, we must get going or we’ll lose our prime subject,” Dr. Menze stammered on nervously.

“Yes, at that, we will leave, post haste,” Jedikiah replied.

It took another twenty minutes to get the equipment inside the waiting plane. Dr. Menze and Jedikiah took seats opposite of each other as the individuals in paramilitary attire took seats towards the back of the plane.

“So, what of our prime subject, Dr. Menze?” Jedikiah asked with an obvious false cheerfulness.

The scientist browsed through a few folders before finding the one he had been looking for and handed it to Jedikiah.

“The young man is named Alexio Delgado. His family works with the local television networks. Lately they have come to the hospital trying to figure out why their young son has been having headaches and “hearing voices.” I have a colleague who works there who is convinced, going by the specific wedge shape of the child’s brain wave datasheet, we are positive that very soon, this boy will breakout and become a telepath.”

“Well, this is indeed, good news, Menze. Tell me, will we be preparing this boy for a certain spy mission once I’ve brainwashed him?” Jedikiah asked with a tired tone.

“This is the plan, you don’t sound too confident about this,” Dr. Menze replied.

“I’ve utilized this procedure before, Dr. Menze. While it has been useful to me in the past, I have experienced that the telepaths of Earth seem to be strong-willed and all-around stubborn. Mind control seems to only work for a limited amount of time before they overcome it. But I am curious as to your…unique methods which have yet to be utilized,” Jedikiah said.

Dr. Menze narrowed his eyes as he scrutinized the man. “Why were you late Jedikiah?”

Jedikiah turned his head to the outside, observing the storm they were presently passing overhead.

“Zetner has returned and he’s made an offer which is very intriguing to Douglas Harm, and to myself surprisingly,” Jedikiah said.

Dr. Menze’s countenance darkened as he continued to scrutinize Jedikiah. “Really? That crazy rogue Time Guardian? You still believe he’s on our side after what he did to you in Atlantis ten thousand years ago?”

“I do Dr. Menze. It’s in the man’s eyes. The same eyes I encountered when I first met him after you put my brain back into my biological body. He still believes he is wanting to change the galaxy’s future for the better. He realizes that one must break a few eggs to make an omelet; at least I believe that’s how you Earthlings say this quote, correct?” Jedikiah asked.

Dr. Menze grunted out a non-vocal reply, causing Jedikiah to release an extended laugh.

“Why did you come back Jedikiah? Four years ago you had completed the mission for Lord….uh, for the Core and received your reward of being put back in your true biological body. You were thinking about heading to a non-Federation world…Templeet, I believe it was called, to resume whatever scientific studies you had planned. Why are you here?”

“Still afraid to say your Lord Sogguth’s name, eh? Jedikiah growled back at him disrespectfully. “Wouldn’t you like to know? You just make sure you have everything set up properly for this neo-telepath we’re to claim.”

“No problem. I’ve taken care of everything,” Dr. Menze replied with a focused confidence.

Jedikiah caught the arrogance in the scientist’s tone. He wasn’t impressed at all. 

***

Toppeil, Germany  
July 1979

[Are you ready, Kenny?]

Stephen asked.

[Ready, Stephen]

Kenny responded.

[Tyso, are you ready?]

[As always, Stephen]

Tyso pathed.

[TIM, how is your long-range visual holding up? You able to stay in orbit without attracting attention from government satellites?]

|I can maintain this position over you for at least 24 hours, Stephen. The satellites closest to me are undergoing remote maintenance from their respective governments. Other satellites have taken on the extra work, but due to their positions, will not visually be able to sense the presence of the Watchdog Station|

Stephen had to admit, inwardly, that he had missed TIM’s usual detailed responses. He briefly remembered first meeting TIM after his breakout, and had a feeling of déjà vu as he realized he was now using the same procedure of telepathic triangulation which had brought him to the attention of the Tomorrow People all those years ago. But whereas it was John, Carol, and Kenny who initiated his first steps into this world; he was now in charge, with Kenny and Tyso attempting to coax a breakout of a newly emerging Tomorrow Person.

[Okay…any minute now, he’ll be in range. Be ready]

The subject of their attention was Hans Schumacher. A local kid who was currently working on the Boswell farm which Tyso’s family had come to assist with, when Tyso’s uncle was going through major convalescence after an extended sickness he had suffered from for the past few months. 

Tyso had gotten to know the fifteen-year-old when his sister Evergreen began to take an immediate shine to the boy. Naturally, being the brother, he had to make sure Hans would treat his sister properly. It had only been the past month when Tyso suspected that Hans was telepathic. Steady responses such as knowing what he was going to say and absently responding to some of his inner thoughts when he hadn’t said anything were major clues. However, it was the shared dream they both had over a week and a half ago that really confirmed to Tyso that Hans was indeed, one of them. Hans hadn’t realized it, but he had talked to Tyso about the same peculiar dream he himself had, describing it in the exact detail that Tyso had also dreamed it in.

Tyso had called upon Stephen, John and Elizabeth to find out when they could come to help with the breakout. It pleasantly surprised him when he heard Kenny had decided to come along to assist, as he hadn’t had much association with the veteran Tomorrow Person. He had become positively shocked when John and Elizabeth had told them to take care of it, confident in their abilities that they could bring a new TP into the world themselves. 

Things have certainly changed in the past three years, Tyso had thought.

Tyso heard Stephens voice in his mind and prepared for the next step.

Kenny was looking forward to this activity and like his friend, Stephen, he also had a since of déjà vu; as he had done this exact procedure when the Tomorrow People had found Stephen all those years ago. And now, here was Stephen, taking charge of a telepathic triangulation himself. It wouldn’t be the first time he thought that there was some type of balance going on in the universe, and he wondered if Stephen realized that particular karmic circle. With himself, Stephen and Tyso utilizing this action, it occurred to Kenny that this might have been the first time that John had not been present for a new break out. It was a thought which briefly surprised him, as he remembered when he was younger, how the older man would keep him in the Lab when they would be off on whatever challenge they were on. Kenny had to admit that there were times when it had surprised even himself on how he had risen through his own personal challenges; developing his diplomatic skills during his time as a Federation ambassador, unexpectedly developing his subterfuge and scouting skills while stuck in Earth’s past of 10,000 years prior, and being part of a crew assisting to fly a spacecraft. His interest in NASA and the space program helped retain his motivation of flying through space a reality. Getting married to a girl 10,000 years in the past. He was still getting over the most intense loss of his life, and images of Ariel were still, so fresh in his mind; but he had recovered enough to start being more active in Tomorrow People business. Besides, he was starting to appreciate being busy again.

It's been quite a ride since I broke out, Kenny thought. 

The young man of only fifteen years of age noticed the subject of his focus was coming into range.

“Here we go,” Kenny whispered to himself.

***

Hans Schumacher was walking lazily through the activity of the local street fair. The young boy was enjoying his time off from working the Boswell Farm. He had wanted to spend the day with his friend’s sister, Evergreen, but she was with her mother doing errands and wouldn’t see her until mid-afternoon. Evergreen’s older brother had seemed to make it a point to get to know him and had expected to meet him at this activity, but that was almost thirty minutes ago, and still no sign of him. He wondered if Tyso was playing a practical joke on him. He rubbed his head again in annoyance.

For the past week, Hans had been having headaches for absolutely no reason. No matter what he did, whether it was making sure he was well-hydrated, ate properly, or took aspirins, these headaches would just not go away. And they seemed to have increased in intensity this past week. The headache was coming along again, but this time, he swore that he began to hear voices in his head. He put a hand on a street pole to lean against. With all the activity, vocal and physical, Hans couldn’t understand why he believed these voices were coming from within his head. He looked around and it felt like all his senses were heightened and other voices were becoming prominent. It felt maddening as a part of him was sure that the ever-increasing inner voices were coming from the people on the street. He unconsciously put his hands over his ears, hoping this action would drown the ever-intense vocals. And for just a second, it seemed to have worked; at the very least, stabilized the decibels levels of the ever-present vocal voices within. Just when it seemed he had a handle on the voices, he began to perceive that there was a pattern of four voices being heard louder than the background voices. With one of them being a very familiar voice.

Brechen hin! Brechen hin!

Befreie deinen Geist!

The voices seemed to have a peculiar German accent, faintly having Hans believe that whoever was attempting to talk to him had only just learned his native language within the past week. Through the vocal haze, he was able to figure out that the voices were saying break out and free his mind. He vaguely wondered if this was how his father felt when he had one of his migraine headaches. His head felt like it was going to crack open. 

Lass mich in Ruhe! Hans cried out

Hans began to run, colliding with people indiscriminately as he vainly attempted to somehow outrun the voices, which would not leave him alone like he had shouted out a few seconds ago.

[He’s making a run for it]

Kenny pathed calmly.

[Tyso, you’re up. Take him to the place we agreed upon]

Stephen evenly said.

[Okay, Stephen]

Tyso said.

[Kenny, let’s jaunt to within visual range. Our telepathy should be just as strong within eyeshot of Hans without the usage of devices or physical link]

Stephen said.

[Agreed]

Kenny said as he proceeded to jaunt to within the vicinity Hans was in.

Hans was still clutching his head as he finished his mad dash across the local agora. He reached for a stone column of a building he had run to, to catch his breath. He could still hear the voices in his head, but they had seemed to have softened somewhat. It was at that moment he heard a familiar voice say his name. He turned to see his friend, Tyso, quickly walking up to him. He immediately noticed Tyso had a specific and serious tone to his walk and vocal tone, and he had to ask him twice what his friend was saying to understand him as the voices within threatened to overwhelm him once more.

\Hans, let’s go into the building here. There’s no one in that area\ 

Tyso urgently vocalized in German.

\Tyso. I’m not sure what’s going on. I’m going mad. All these voices in my head\

[Du bist nicht Sauer]

Tyso telepathically spoke German to his friend, bringing a terrified look from his friend.

\What do you mean, “I’m not mad?” Your voice was just inside my head. What are you doing to me?!\

Hans began to panic as Tyso grabbed his arm and led him forcefully toward the specific spot that was agreed upon with Stephen and Kenny earlier. Hans escaped from Tyso hand and leaned against a stone wall, trying to will the voices to go away. He wiped his head, barely noticing the beginnings of an amble amount of sweat which had developed there.

\Tyso…\

“Hans, I want you to talk to me in English. Do you understand?”

Tyso believed that having Hans concentrate on his developing English language, other than the voices, would loosen his mind to being more receptive to a hopefully, smoother breakout once Stephen and Kenny came around to help finish the process.

“Tyso…”

The young gypsy boy caught the look of recognition in Hans eyes as Stephen and Kenny showed up. The two took up positions on either side of the terrified German boy. Stephen spoke first.

[Hans, we’re here to help, but you have to get control of your thoughts]

“Hilf mir,” Hans spoke, directing his eyes at Tyso.

We will help you, Hans,” Tyso repeated the words Hans had desperately ordered of him.

“Stephen, I think we should speak German to him. It could calm him down better,” Kenny remarked.

Stephen thought quickly, as he had believed that the German they had been telepathically speaking to Hans was the cause of the teenager’s terrified reaction, which was why Tyso had felt he should be talking English to the suffering boy. The recently developed language translator they had in their ears was still in the prototype stage and probably hadn’t yet distinguished between the over two dozen dialects of the German language. 

Make a choice, Stephen thought.

[Befreie deinen Geist, Hans]

Hans reacted by turning his eyes to Stephen, who had given the young man a focused, yet compassionate look. This seemed to have relaxed Hans momentarily.

[Entspannen, befreie deinen Geist]

Hans continued to look between the three faces, trying to get a sense of calm and safety. Trying to free his mind like this older man said to do. He finally began to relax a bit. A new voice began to be inside his head.

[Versuchen Sie, durch Ihren Geist zu sehen]

Kenny pathed.

[Gefangen in deinem Geist. Denken Sie zurück in den Mutterleib, alles, was Sie wussten, war Gefühl, nicht gedacht]

Hans felt like he was barely able to comprehend the dark-skinned boy’s concept of seeing through his mind, being in a womb and going on feeling, and not thought. But the words did manage to calm his thoughts down enough for him to actually feel what Kenny had said. He vaguely noticed Kenny smile in calm affirmation.

Stephen spoke again.

[Han’s, stellen Sie sich eine Blume öffnen; oder eine Faust lösen; befreie deinen Geist]

Hans began to calm down as images of a flower opening and a fist unclenching began racing through his head. Images of people and exploding…stars, galaxies? A baby in a womb came unbidden again in his mind. Images of thoughts, color, and concepts. It threatened to overwhelm him, but Hans managed to ride that wave, much like those Californian surfers whom he enjoyed watching so much on television. He now began to imagine himself on the highest wave possible, hearing the calm voices of Tyso and his friends. 

***

“He’s coming back around,” Tyso said.

Hans felt like he had been asleep for a few hours, but as everything began to coalesce back into his focused reality, he realized he was still inside the building Tyso had forced him to come into. Hans felt his breathing was not adrenaline-filled like it was….hours, minutes….seconds ago? He quietly regarded Tyso, and then gradually realized his two friends, who had apparently helped him through whatever milady he had been suffering through.

“Am I sick?” Hans asked.

Kenny released an appreciative chuckle. \If you are, then we’re all in trouble\

Hans looked at Tyso’s friend. While he had seen the young boy around recently, for some reason, he knew that he was a friend. The boy stuck his hand out towards him.

\I’m Kenny\

Hans regarded the hand for a second before grasping it tentatively, releasing a small smile.

\Hans, as I’m sure you’re aware of, these are my friends. They’re not here to harm you in any way\ Tyso said.

Hans noticed Tyso’s other friend, the quiet one who had not spoken, but was regarding him with such focus, like scrutinizing a cell under a microscope, he would eventually compare it to.

\Hello Hans. I’m Stephen. How are you feeling?\

Hans touched his head, somewhat surprised that the headache and pain were completely gone. But somehow, he felt much more connection to…something he couldn’t name.

“I’m fine. But could you speak in English? Your usage of German leaves much to be desired. It’s been a combination of various dialects and I could barely understand you all,” Hans said.

This elicited another chuckle, this time from everyone gathered.

[TIM, could you matter transport a belt for Hans?]

|Certainly|

TIM responded.

“So soon, Stephen?” Tyso asked abruptly.

“Hans will be okay. The first jaunt is always the worse, but being that it’s been barely minutes since he brokeout, a matter transporter will prep his body for any future jaunts he initiates on his own,” Kenny explained.

“Yes. Personally, I don’t want another Elizabeth where he gets stuck in hyperspace,” Stephen remarked as the belt sized matter transporter appeared; remembering when she had become trapped in hyperspace after her jaunting abilities stress-manifested themselves during breakout.

Hans went wide eyed at the presence of this item, which had appeared from nowhere. He gave Stephen a look of concern as he was helped up by Tyso and Kenny.

Stephen helped put the belt around Hans’s waist. “Don’t worry. I promise this won’t hurt you.”

“I’m going to hold you to that,” Hans replied nervously.

“Jaunt us in, TIM,” Stephen said outloud.

Stephen, Kenny, Tyso, and Hans disappeared from the building and reappeared in the orbiting Watchdog Station. The three veteran telepaths observed Hans, whose eyes had widened at his new surroundings. 

“What…where are we?” Hans asked in authentic wonderment.

“This is our Watchdog Station in orbit around the Earth,” Stephen said as he pointed toward the observation bubble.

Hans looked in that direction and slowly walked toward the window to see the calm view of the Earth. He began to feel lightheaded as it slowly began to dawn on him that his life from here on out had changed forever. He put his hand on an odd-looking, furniture sized object which had three half-bubbles on top, to help stabilize himself as he decided to take a nearby seat on a nearby bench.

“I feel, like a lot is happening….all at once. You’re saying I’m in orbit? Above the Earth?” Hans asked as he looked directly at Tyso.

“Yes, but you’ll get used to it after a few more times,” Tyso said confidently.

Hans regarded the three people in front of him; one, whom he thought he knew, and the other two which he still hadn’t gotten a firm trust for, as of yet.

“Who are you?” Hans whispered.

Stephen cleared his throat. “We...Kenny, Tyso, and myself are called the Tomorrow People….and you, Hans, are one of us. We are the next stage of humankind’s evolution, scientifically known as Homo-superior.”

“Like The Uncanny X-Men?” Hans voice and attitude seemed to perk up suddenly with recognition.

Stephen was taken off-guard by the German boy’s comparison to these X-Men. He regarded Kenny for a bit, hoping the former Federation ambassador had an inkling of what Hans was talking about.

Kenny smirked a little at his friend’s lack of pop culture reference knowledge. “No Hans. Not like the X-Men. None of us are going to grow wings or shoot concussion blasts from their eyes. We’re not superheroes from a comic book. Indeed, we do have special powers which we’ll teach you how to use.”

“Right,” Stephen began, “We have three main abilities. Telepathy, which is mind talk.”

[I can talk to you without moving my mouth, see?]

Stephen said without pause as he had put his hand to his mouth for that last bit. 

“Was that what I heard earlier….with all the voices in my head?” Hans asked.

“Yes. Because you were in the throes of breaking out, you were hearing other voices as well. You were coming into your powers,” Stephen said.

“Mein Gott,” Hans whispered out loud.

“Your other powers are teleportation, or jaunting as we call it. It’s how we got up here, and then there is telekinesis, which is moving objects with your mind,” Stephen explained.

Hans eyes widened a bit, “Teleportation, telepathy and telekinesis. Just like Nightcrawler and Jean Grey.”

Stephen was caught off-guard again, much to the slight amusement of Kenny.

“Well…..yes. But remember, we’re not superheroes. We’re the next stage in human evolution and we have responsibilities and duties to each other and the world.”

“Well of course we have. We have to save it right? We have to defeat bad guys, save the good guys, and keep people safe. Do we wear masks and costumes?” Hans asked excitedly.

Stephen was at a bit of a standstill. The questions that Hans was asking were quite unusual and not typical of what a new Tomorrow Person would usually ask. For a second, he felt he was at a loss, as he had so wanted his first leadership position in assisting a telepath to break out to go well. A sudden thought came to his mind and he quickly regarded Kenny.

“Kenny, I think you should handle this. You have more of an understanding of comic books then I do,” Stephen decided.

Kenny looked at Stephen with slight surprise, obviously not having expected to being lead-man in this endeavor. But he quickly realized that what a leader had to do sometimes was to utilize the varied strengths of a team, and this was what Stephen was doing now. Kenny nodded inwardly.

“Hans, we don’t go around the world flying and righting wrongs. We all have the same special powers, with some having stronger levels than others. For instance, my level of telekinesis has always been stronger than most telepaths. But getting back to our duties and responsibilities, we don’t go around revealing ourselves to the world…at least not purposely. We’re all connected and subject to a Galactic entity known as the Federation.”

“The Federation? Like Star Trek?” Hans asked.

“Not exactly. The Federation is comprised of over thousands of telepathic civilizations who have maintained order in most of the galaxy for over one-hundred thousand years. Many of us become ambassadors to the Federation to help, observe, or learn from other developed civilizations, many of which have been telepathic for hundreds of centuries,” Kenny explained.

“Mein Gott,” Hans whispered out again. 

“Indeed,” Kenny said. “Also, unlike superheroes, we don’t go around instigating wars. Indeed, we don’t do wars.”

“What do you mean? We don’t fight?” Hans said, concern in his voice.

“We can defend ourselves with our special powers or through physical training we’ve received, much like martial arts in regards to defending. But we can’t kill.”

“Even to save ourselves?” Hans said with a concerned tone.

Kenny shook his head, “No, but many times, we can just jaunt away.”

“But what about you, Tyso? You killed that rabbit a few weeks ago,” Hans interrupted staring intently at the gypsy boy.

Kenny looked at Tyso, who immediately picked up from where Kenny had left off. “I’m a bit of a unique case right now, Hans. I’m not sure if I can explain it right; but because of my home environment, I was able to retain this aspect of my aggression. There’s a Dr. Wilson who can explain this much better than I can. While this is a rare…talent, there are some throughout the Federation who can utilize this aspect of their abilities.”

Hans was starting to become a bit wary now, as he thought about how vulnerable he would be, even with these powers the three were explaining to him.

“Doesn’t the government help us out with that, though? Do they train us in defending ourselves?”

“No. We never want reveal ourselves to the government. Any government,” Stephen firmly said. “As much as possible, we don’t associate with any government entity. From past experiences we’ve had, we know that the government would use our special powers to fight their wars, or to spy for them, or be involved in any number of aggressive conflicts. Building on what Tyso explained about home environments, we’ve experienced that telepaths who do work for any government agency, their powers are extremely limited. Some can only utilize their telepathy, some might only be able to have a strong empathic ability, some can only jaunt. Something about the aggressive nature of government work in that capacity, hinders the usual development of a telepath, even stunting their break out. All telepaths have what is known as a Prime Barrier, which reduces our aggressive tendencies and prevents us from purposely killing. This is why it’s most imperative that we keep ourselves secret, until such time as there are enough of us to effect change on the world toward more peaceful ways to resolving conflict.”

Hans thought quietly for a moment, aware that Tyso and the others were watching him. He finally looked up, staring directly at the trio. “So…we must be quite powerful to have a…telepathic Federation in charge of the galaxy, to where we don’t have to use conflict to make things happen and figure things out. That’s so….unreal.”

Hans absently put a hand on one of the balls on the short column he was next to and began to stand up, but then suddenly he heard a vibration on his hand and a loud laugh from where he was at, causing him to quite literally jump back in shock and surprise.

“What….what is that?” Hans cried out, slightly panicked.

“It’s okay, Hans. This is TIM. He’s our biotronic computer that you just tickled,” Tyso said with outright laughter.

“Computer?” Hans tentatively said.

|Hello, Hans. I do apologize for startling you as I did|

Hans began feeling somewhat overwhelmed. “Um….sure. Okay, um….good to meet…you.”

“TIM, could you materialize some water for Hans, please?” Tyso said, a look of concern on his face as he crossed the room to sit next to his friend of a few months.

|Regretfully, I cannot Tyso. As you have seemed to have forgotten, I am only able to utilize the bare necessities of my existence here on the Watchdog Station; and as such, I cannot materialize water or any food. However, there are food and water supplies in the cabinet next to the personal facilities|

“Sorry TIM, I did forget. I’ll bet you’ll be happy once we get you back down to Earth in your normal environment again,” Tyso said.

|That is a day I’ll be looking forward to Tyso. Since I have been up in orbit, it has felt that I’ve been working at not even half capacity; or as is a popular human saying goes, ‘working with one arm tied behind my back’|

“I would definitely have to agree with that TIM,” Kenny responded.

“Tyso, can we go home? I’m feeling really tired all of a sudden,” Hans said.

|I would recommend that Hans be watched over for the remainder of the day. He’s had a lot of information come to him all at once. I shall set the coordinates of the matter transporter to jaunt him within walking distance to his place of residence|

Tyso and Kenny assisted Hans to his feet and touched their jaunting bands as TIM gave them the boost to get back to Earth. Once the trio of telepaths had disappeared, Stephen released a troubled sigh.

|What is wrong, Stephen?|

Stephen slowly shook his head. “I’m not sure I did too well with this new breakout, TIM.”

|Stephen, you did outstanding. Considering that you, Tyso, and Kenny have been away the most from Earth, you all performed remarkably bringing Hans into the fold. I am impressed and proud of you|

TIM responded.

“Yes, well, I’m sure John won’t be. There were a few things I had to figure out as they were happening,” Stephen reiterated.

|Of course, and John would say the same thing. From his perspective, he had to help Carol come into her special powers by himself, and then Kenny broke out much too young and almost died. You had the advantage of breaking out when there were close to a handful of telepaths on Earth, experienced with breakouts. Your methods will never totally be the same as John’s are. There is no set rulebook on how experienced telepaths should bring a new Tomorrow Person into their abilities besides the obvious physical and mental boundaries during any breakout|

TIM’s paternal sounding words seemed to give Stephen a grateful pause with his recent work and he thanked TIM for the honest observations and words.

|Are you still considering becoming a Federation ambassador, Stephen?|

TIM inquired.

Stephen pondered that question for a long few seconds before finally responding, “To be honest, I don’t know TIM. At the time when I told John my plans, it seemed to be the thing to do. I’ve been out of the action for so long, I thought I should just start right in and prove my worth, if that makes any sense. I’m glad I was given some time off from Federation responsibilities to figure my options so far after my medical exile.”

|And what have you come up with, Stephen?|

TIM asked.

“Well, at first I was hesitant to stay on Earth. To be honest, I felt that things would be the same as when I left, but they aren’t. We’ve all matured in ways which makes me believe that I could have a more sincere say on how to bring in new Tomorrow People. That maybe John and Elizabeth might take me more seriously,” Stephen said.

|I believe their confidence in you was proven today when they put you in charge of this breakout a week ago, Stephen. Hans is the first telepath to not have been taken in by John. And as more telepaths breakout on Earth, it is only proper that you, and the experienced Tomorrow People step up and assume leadership roles to bring them in, this being one of them|

TIM said.

Stephen nodded. “I can see your point TIM. And you’re right. To include Hsui-Tai and Andrew, this is the most Tomorrow People which have broke out this past year.”

|This is an accurate observation|

“I should get back to the others. It looks like we’ll be in Germany for a few days while getting Hans used to his special powers. I appreciate the talk, TIM. Thank you. I’ve really missed our chats in the intervening years healing up on Raxacaliber IV. I’m looking forward to having discussions with you again,” Stephen admitted.

|Stephen, it is good to have you back in our family, again|

TIM paternally said. 

“Thanks TIM. That means a whole lot to me. I’ll be in touch.”

Stephen smiled as he jaunted back down to Earth.

***

For the reminder of the week, Stephen, Kenny, and Tyso began teaching and training Hans everything he needed to know about being one of the Tomorrow People. Duties and responsibilities to the Federation, learning how to jaunt, and a general history of telepaths from Earth. Throughout the week, they had also taken it upon themselves to help out about the sprawling acre farm which the Boswell family had been here for originally.

Throughout all this activity, Stephen took it upon himself to discuss Hans’s duties with his father and brother, who had actually taken the news about their family member with pride, actually. He was impressed with how they handled the news, especially when Stephen mentioned some of the dangers associated with being part of the next stage in human evolution. However, when asked if Hans would be leaving them for good, Stephen was at a bit of a dilemma, as he told them that they recently had found a place to house many telepaths, but in regards to whether or not they would be required to stay, he just didn’t have an answer to that question at that time. 

“Kenny, I felt bad for not having a solid response to Mr. Schumacher’s question. He seems so nice and understanding about Hans,” Stephen said as he recalled his conversations he had with Hans’s father.

Kenny nodded. “Well, I sense that it’s going to be different now, Stephen. When we were Tomorrow People, there were only four to five of us at any given time and we mostly lived with our parents. It was only for a bit when Carol and Warren lived in the Lab and it became pretty cramped for a while. It’s only been recently in the past year that John and the others have been living at the Lab itself; well, except maybe Andrew.”

“Yes, I think John and Elizabeth were experimenting with utilizing a Lab which could also house the ever-expanding numbers of Tomorrow People coming out,” Stephen said.

“To be expected. Remind me to show you a few pictures and video on the early beginnings of telepaths from other planets within the Federation. If one thing is constant, developing telepaths from any culture will begin to expand on their housing. I mean, you wouldn’t think that, but the next stage in evolution has to live somewhere,” Kenny vocally noticed.

“Have you seen pictures of the prior Lab yet?” Stephen asked.

Kenny shook his head. “I haven’t. It’s not exactly been on my list of must-see things to do, Stephen.”

Stephen couldn’t help but smile at his friend’s response. “We should do something fun after getting back to England. We’re on vacation, we should act like it.”

“We should. I’m finally feeling like I can be social again, if this last week has been any indication of this. Maybe we should catch Mike’s concert when the group gets to Europe. I thought I caught that this Byron Lucifer’s European tour starts in France this month or next,” Kenny said.

Stephen remembered how closed in and depressed his friend had been when he had come back from his time in Earth’s past. He had been quite curious about how his friend had gotten married and tragically lost his wife. But not yet. However, the concert sounded like a good way to reestablish their friendship. 

“Yes, I we should do that. And I’m pretty sure it starts next month,” Stephen stated.

Kenny was in the middle of vocally working out some logistics on the concert when TIM interrupted him.

[Go ahead, TIM] 

Kenny responded.

|Kenny, Astra Utana is having challenges with the chameleon shift on her spacecraft, and it has caused damages to her navigation sensors. While not a serious issue as of yet, she requires assistance to repair it within a reasonable time or risk having the ship go into a reentry orbit, with pieces potentially falling on populated areas|

[Sounds pretty technical, TIM. Is Andrew unavailable?]

Kenny asked.

|At the moment, he is with Marhk stabilizing areas of Havenshire for my eventual installation at the castle. Part of the challenge is keeping the government satellites from visually engaging the spacecraft and the Watchdog Station which I am using to assist Astra|

[Should all of us come then, TIM?]

Kenny asked.

|Yes Kenny. I have enough first-generation AE suits here in the station for all four of you|

[Four of us? You want us to bring Hans?]

Stephen abruptly said, surprise in his voice.

|I don’t see why not, Stephen. The work to be done is of minimal danger and Hans will need to know how to operate an AE suit. Better to experience it while doing a routine repair mission|

[Okay TIM. We’ll shake a leg and see you within thirty]

Stephen said.

|See you all soon|

TIM said.

Stephen and Kenny looked at each other, mirroring each other’s resolve.

“Well, looks like Hans is going to get his first taste of outer space hijinks,” Stephen said.

“Yes, indeed,” Kenny said. “Let’s get moving.”

After rounding up Tyso and Hans, much to the annoyance of Tyso’s sister, Evergreen, the foursome jaunted to the Watchdog Station. After teasing the newest Tomorrow Person about his developing relationship with Tyso’s sister, Astra had jaunted to the station to reintroduce herself to Stephen and Kenny, and to give a detailed explanation of what needed to be done with her ship and the various government satellites nearby during the repairs. 

While getting into their AE suits, Stephen gave Hans the rundown on the controls of the environmental suit. While Hans was quite excited about being in outer space and participating in an “official Tomorrow People mission,” Stephen continued to try to provide a mature presence to the young boy, inadvertently bringing memories of his own first try with an AE suit. Inwardly, he had to admit that it would be exciting to be Hans age and going to outer space.

The heart of the mission was twofold. Astra explained that while herself and Stephen would continue with the repairs, Kenny, Tyso, and Hans would jaunt to each government satellite in the vicinity and physically keep them from visually seeing Astra’s ship and the Watchdog Station. The small rocket packets in the back of each AE suit would be more than sufficient to help them to gently turn the satellites in a way as to not attract too much attention from their individual government agencies. 

It was a few hours later out in space when Hans was starting to become a bit restless.

[You doing okay out here, Hans? You seem to be a bit distracted] 

Tyso asked.

[Sure. I’m fine. Mein Gott, it’s beautiful out here]

[It can be. Make sure not to turn the American satellite too quickly. I’m sure they’re still a bit antsy from the events from back in March. No need to make them any more anxious]

Tyso said.

[You mean the big Hollywood movie prank that got America in trouble with other nations in the world?]

Hans said.

[Well, is that what you heard? Interesting]

Tyso said.

The young gypsy had somewhat kept up on the recent fallout from Earth’s official first encounter with aliens. Or at least that’s what it was supposed to have been. Various governments and newspaper agencies had done their best to either downplay or outright cover up the events as nothing more than a Hollywood practical joke for a movie they were making, or the United States utilizing some new weapon making people believe that they were actually seeing an alien invasion. Not being one who was ever political, it did fascinate Tyso how people could be so easily manipulated by a government, even when things were happening right in front of them visually. 

[Ja, I did. But I suspect you and the others will tell me differently and I look forward to that story. Have they finished yet? Much as I’m appreciating coming along for this mission in space, it’s getting kinda boring out here]

Hans said

[What would you rather be doing?]

Tyso asked. 

[Fixing Astra’s ship. I fix things all the time on the farm. Not seeing what much of a big difference it would be to repair her ship. You know, conceptually-wise, everything has to move within a specified way]

Hans stated.

Tyso quickly wondered if he had ever been as naïve as Hans. Granted, the boy had only been a Tomorrow People for not even a week, but the way he spoke at times, it was like the real world was based off of some comic book or fantasy novel he would catch his sister reading from time to time. Having gotten to know the boy for the past month or so, this had been a steady thing about Hans’s personality, and probably explained why Evergreen got along with him so well, but Tyso also would’ve thought that this worldview would’ve changed somewhat after all he had experienced so recently.

[Tyso! Kenny!]

The shouting in his voice knocked Tyso out of his thoughts as he automatically looked toward where Stephen and Astra had been working and noticed two bodies rapidly flying out of range from Astra’s ship, while the ship itself was moving towards Earth quickly.

[Stephen!]

[Kenny, Tyso. Astra accidently knocked one of the wiring out, causing an explosion. We’re okay, but Astra caught the full blast and her rocket pack is on so we can’t jaunt back to the Watchdog Station]

Stephen said with tension in his voice.

[Hans, stay where you are. Stephen, I can jaunt to where you are to help turn her pack off]

Tyso ordered as he jaunted to where the two telepaths were.

[I’ll take the ship!]

Kenny said as he jaunted to where he assumed the ship would go, but he misjudged and reappeared in the spot the ship had only a split second ago had been.

[Damn it!]

Kenny cried out.

Astra’s ship was flying so erratically, it was hard to judge where it would end up. Kenny had tried a few more times; and with both, he either reappeared too late or the ship wasn’t where it would’ve been expected at. Now the ship decided to make a beeline towards Hans and the satellite he had been maneuvering. 

[Hans, jaunt out of there, now!]

Kenny yelled.

Hans eyes went wide and he began to panic. For a few seconds he watched as the ship came closer and closer, getting bigger in his forward vision. He then remembered a scene from a movie which he had seen last year and he closed his eyes, attempting to calm himself down. He felt a slight bump and opened his eyes, to find himself clutching onto the ship itself. He almost panicked again but forced himself to relax. Hans felt that he was close to where Stephen and Astra had been fixing the ship and he carefully walked himself to the still-open panel. Not knowing what to do, Hans decided to close his eyes again to figure out what to do and telepathically felt along where he could do the most good in getting the ship to cease its erratic flight. 

Hans felt his mind connect with the wires and other technical aspects of the ship’s inside. It felt right when his mind seemed to practically know instinctively where everything went.

[Hans! Answer me, are you alright?]

Hans came out of whatever distraction he had been in to hear Kenny’s voice blaring in his head.

[I’m….fine, Kenny. Why are you shouting at me?]

[Wake up, Hans. You’ve pointed Astra’s ship right at the Watchdog Station and you’re going to collide!]

Hans forced his mind into current clarity and realized Kenny was right. He automatically pulled something within the panel and immediately the spacecraft stopped its engines, but it still was floating at the same rate of speed from before. 

[Kenny, I don’t know what to do. The engines stopped but it’s still moving towards it]

Hans slightly panicked.

[Use your telekinesis. I’ll be helping you]

Hans utilized what he had been trained for when using this ability and thought with all his might. Even though he was in outer space, Hans thought he could feel the spacecraft slowing down. Suddenly, it came to a complete stop.

|Kenny, I was able to utilize the attractor beam to bring Astra’s ship to a halt. We should be fine now. Bring Hans inside. He could be hurt|

No sooner had Hans heard Kenny’s reply to TIM’s order, he felt hands around his shoulders and suddenly saw himself inside the Watchdog Station. He felt hands forcefully attempting to take his helmet off. Once it was off, he immediately fell onto, instead of sat, on the closest bench.

“Okay, how you feel? You alright, Hans?”

Hans looked up through slightly blurry vision to regard Kenny. 

“Ja, ich bin fein,” Hans responded in his native language as he settled in. He felt so tired…

***

“Well, looks like our newest member is waking up.”

Hans opened his eyes, feeling much better. It had felt that he slept for a long while.

“Enjoy your five-minute nap?” Kenny asked.

“Five minutes? That’s all I slept for?” Hans asked.

“Well, enough of a catnap to jaunt you back to Earth now,” Tyso said.

“What happened?” Hans said.

Stephen and the woman named Astra approached, giving him their full attention.

“We are going to have to have a discussion on your attempts at playing superhero, Hans. You were really, really lucky,” Stephen said.

“But I was using the Force,” Hans said and then noticing the peculiar and confused expressions on Stephen and Astra’s faces, he felt it wise to refrain from explaining the ending of Star Wars, as he was just too tired to explain and quietly apologized for whatever he did that was wrong.

“Well, you’re safe…and more importantly you used your…technopathic gifts to repair the ship enough for Astra to utilize the chameleon shift without it affecting her navigation controls,” Stephen said.

Hans was at a loss on the word Stephen had used. “Technopath?”

“Looks like we have another Andrew and Jennifer,” Kenny remarked.

Hans was still at a loss while the other three telepaths prepared their goodbyes to Astra and to take their leave of her. Astra came up to Hans and helped him up.

“Get those special powers under control Hans. I have no doubt you’re going to become very useful to the Tomorrow People,” Astra remarked calmly.

“Um…vielen dank,” Hans automatically replied with some hesitancy.

Astra smiled and nodded her head respectfully. “Bitte.”

“You know German, Astra?” Stephen asked, surprise in his tone.

“One of my gifts developed from a lifetime of hearing differing languages and tongues. It’s pretty easy once you know what to look for with the sounds, enunciations, inflictions, and tones utilized,” Astra said.

Astra reminded Stephen of his last-minute schedule, prompting him to abruptly remember the current events going on back on Earth.

“Give John and his family all by best,” Astra said.

“I will. TIM said it looked like his father pulled through the worst of it,” Stephen said.

Astra nodded as she watched Stephen join the other three telepaths as TIM jaunted them from the station.

Stephen, Kenny, Tyso, and Hans reappeared on the Boswell farm just to the side of the red barn. 

“Hans, we have to get going now. But I’ll be back within the next couple of hours,” Tyso said.

“Did I do something wrong, Tyso? All I did was do what Luke Skywalker did in the X-Wing when he destroyed the Death Star….and it worked. I was calm and really felt things, just like the Force,” Hans said.

“No, you were great. We just have to get you to understand your abilities better so that you consciously utilize them without hurting yourself or others, that’s all. I’ll explain everything when I get back. You go back to the house and let my parents know I’m headed to England for just a quick spell.”

Hans nodded. “Okay. I’ll see you soon. I am glad I was able to help. I know I’ve got a lot to learn and I’ve been comparing a lot of what’s happened to me this past week with characters I’ve read and seen in comic books and movies, but I think that’s just how I’ve been coping. It’s still so…. unreal. You know?”

Tyso smiled and clapped his friend softly on the shoulder. “I know. You did good. Get some rest.”

Tyso watched as his friend turned and headed toward the house. He could still feel the boy’s surface thoughts of confusion and wonderment. He turned back to Stephen and Kenny, who were double-checking the coordinates TIM had given them.

“TIM is going to jaunt us to the hospital John’s father is at,” Stephen said.

“Okay, let’s get to it,” Kenny said.

Stephen nodded, a worried look on his face, which Kenny caught immediately.

“Don’t worry Stephen. Hans is trainable, he’ll get the hang of it. Hey, it’s better than what you had to go through with Jedikiah when you first broke out. At least with Hans, all it was, was just figuring out a new aspect of his abilities and stopping a spacecraft. Nothing world threatening.”

“Kenny, you really have a way of putting things into perspective,” Stephen told one of his oldest friends.

“And you did just fine with your leadership. Now let’s see how Mr. Halloway is doing. Sounds like him and the rest had quite an afternoon also,” Kenny said.

The three Tomorrow People acknowledged to TIM they were ready and disappeared from the grassy area they had just been at.

 

Hampstead, England  
July 1979

Jennifer Hathaway stretched and yawned on the extended patio chair. She had to admit to herself, it had been too long since she had lounged around in the sun. Having put on sunscreen earlier, as well as coming out close to mid-morning, she was quite sure she wouldn’t burn like she used to when she lived on Earth. She opened her eyes and regarded her parent’s home and how the blue sky framed this comfortable place through her sunglasses. She had actually missed her childhood residence since she left three years ago. Jennifer heard a faint telepathic laugh, familiar in that it came from her sister. For a quick second, she was fascinated that her sister’s physical laugh was the same as her telepathic laugh. 

Jennifer lazily sat up and eyed the open back door, with only the screen door keeping out whatever insects might inadvertently fly in the house. She got up and went to the entrance, checking in on her sister’s family. She saw them in the kitchen, quiet and undergoing their daily telepathic bonding session. It was of a continuous marvel this threesome, after all they’ve had to endure for the past three years….one year by Carol’s reckoning, could become so close again after only a few months of being together. Even little Nova had begun to come around to having his mother back in his life. Not wanting to bother her sister’s family, she went back to her extended lawn chair and laid back down on it. 

After a few minutes of not being able to get back to sleep, she picked up a paper she had been reading earlier. Glancing at the sports section, she eyed an article about Martina Navratilova beating Chris Evert at Wimbledon earlier this month. She went to the front page and caught an article about the Skylab which had fallen through the atmosphere some days ago. Kiribati declared independence from the United Kingdom. Oil spills. Maritza Sayalero of Venezuela, crowned 28th Miss Universe.

That last article prompted Jennifer to think about her parents and sister, who were also in South America. The trio had been there for a documentary about personal anecdotes about the Falkland Islands and that country’s turmoil regarding Argentina. Jennifer didn’t know much about politics and world events, particularly of the past three years, but she did recall her dad talking about how things might come to a head and war could actually result in another few years. It had been such a peculiar surprise that all three of them had gone out there to help on the documentary. Her dad said they were able to take such allowances due to working with the news media; he also had a friend there whom they were going to visit in Argentina, requiring special visas since the country was still under a military dictatorship. 

“Reading the newspaper? Well, that is a change in you. I remember when the only purpose you had for a newspaper was to read the funnies.”

Jennifer put the paper down to see her sister smiling down at her. As Jennifer sat back up, she noticed how radiant and healthy Carol looked. It was remarkable how much of a change she had gone through since coming back this past April. 

Amazing what can happen when one gets the proper rest they need. Jennifer thought inwardly.

“Well, things change….and then they don’t,” Jennifer said as she pointed to an article within the World section of the paper.

Carol took a look to see an article about Russia doing another nuclear test. After a moment, she shook her head.

“These Saps will blow themselves up if we don’t hurry up and find more telepaths,” Carol said softly, a hint of irritation in her voice.

“Well, Stephen, Tyso, and Kenny are in Germany right now helping with a new breakout, if that helps,” Jennifer replied.

“Really? John and Elizabeth aren’t there helping out?” Carol asked.

“I don’t believe so,” Jennifer yawned and stretched again. “Sounds like things were going well inside with you lot. Looked like the whole family was very much in tune with each other.”

“Spying on me, again?” Carol asked, a slight tease to her voice.

“Always,” Jennifer had said in such a no-nonsense tone, it had taken Carol aback slightly.

|Carol, I have attained a message from your father. He requires you to call him back as soon as possible|

TIM said, literally out of nowhere.

[Well, good morning to you too TIM. I’m doing fine, thank you] 

Carol said.

|Yes. Forgive me Carol. I am in the middle of helping with repairs of an orbiting Federation spacecraft|

“That’s alright, TIM. I was just teasing,” Carol spoke out.

Jennifer yawned again. “Guess I’ll come with you.”

“Don’t you have some errands to do with Andrew tomorrow? Something about making sure everything is decent for when TIM is finally brought down to Earth?” Carol questioned her sister.

“Sure, but what makes you think our family will need us for that long? They probably just miss us and want us to hang out with them for a bit. I’ll be back in plenty of time to help Andrew,” Jennifer said.

“Miss us? Not likely, considering that our little sister was most eager to have them all to herself this summer. Still, it would be nice to see them for spell. Let’s say goodbye to Narcissa and Nova before we leave,” Carol said.

“We’re not taking them with us?” Jennifer said as she put on a shirt, eyeing her jeans which had been laying on the grass next to her.

“No. Nova has really taken an interest in the local zoo. Narcissa has enough experience on Earth to get by, he’ll be fine,” Carol said.

“Okay, let’s go then. Always wanted to see Rio de Janeiro. Maybe I’ll get a tan down there,” Jennifer said half-jokingly as she pulled her jeans up.

“I’ll go inside and let Narcissa and Nova of our intentions,” Carol said.

“Make sure to tell him we’ll be three hours behind,” Jennifer said as she gathered up her items from around the extended lawn chair, looking forward to the change of scenery.

***

Carol and Jennifer jaunted into what appeared to be an isolated part of a beach. They both felt the warmth of the early humid morning and appreciated the smell of the salt air coming from the ocean. Jennifer was the first to spot their father, who was waving to them from an old-style jeep. The two walked towards him and both took turns giving him a hug.

“So, how is the family coming along?” Mr. Hathaway asked.

“We’re doing fine father. Narcissa sends his regards, and Nova wants to know if his grandfather will bring a chimpanzee home,” a smiling Carol said.

Charles Hathaway grunted, “A chimpanzee? Now where in the world did he get that idea from?”

Jennifer spoke up. “Your grandson, my nephew, has been absolutely impressed by the zoo he’s been going to these past few weeks. He can’t get enough it.”

“Yes, well, we should get going. Maybe I can buy him a toy chimpanzee that squeaks,” Mr. Hathaway said anxiously.

Carol and Jennifer could immediately pick up on the unusual nervousness coming from their father as he drove down through the city, going to the North Zone, or the Zona Norte as it was commonly known to the locals and tourists. Even though their father was relegating them with tales of the documentary thus far, they could tell that he was keeping something from them. It was because of the stop and go of their awkward conversations, with long moments of silence that Carol finally decided to find out why they had been called, and it wasn’t for a family get-together.

“Father, what’s wrong? It seems like mother and Dana are doing just fine. What’s going on?” Carol asked.

Carol observed the various thoughts evident on her father’s facial features. Carol didn’t need her empathic gifts to realize that whatever thoughts he had going on, they were of such a serious nature that he couldn’t seem to put into the proper words, how he felt about it, much less how to explain it. Indeed, there were only a few times when he acted such as he did, bringing a rapid thought.

“Father, is Dana on the verge of breakout?” Carol asked suddenly.

“What?!? But you just said Dana was doing well with her bratty self,” Jennifer shot a look at her father.

Charles Hathaway sputtered out a negative response, prompting him to turn off to the side of the now-country road.

“Of course not! Whatever gave you that idea?”

Carol got straight to the point. “I’ve only seen you in this type of mode twice; once when I became a telepath and the other when Jennifer became a telepath. Father, if she’s breaking out, we can help her. Obviously, we’ve had experience and we must get to her, you know breakouts are no laughing matter.”

Mr. Hathaway gave his oldest daughter a look which shown some betrayal as he regarded the words from a young woman who felt he had been lying to her this whole time, and not a daughter who should’ve trusted him better. Carol seemed to recognize this feeling and almost immediately released an almost apologetic and shamed look from her face.

“Father?” Dana put a hand on his shoulder, a physical act which put him at ease.

At least one of my daughters trusts me.

“As you know, since we returned from our documentary project in the Falkland Islands, we’ve been staying with a friend editing our video. My friend, Christopher Malken and his wife, Dawn Delgado-Malken, have a son, his stepson, named Alexio Delgado. Well, Dana has taken a shine to the lad and that’s all fine. He seems to be a decent boy, some political issues about Britain and it’s relations with the Falklands, but that’s nothing new around here. Anyway, your mother and I have noticed that Alexio has been behaving rather peculiar of late. We’ve seen it a few times, and the descriptions of his reactions…..well, after what we’ve experienced with you two when you both went through your breakouts, the whole family agrees that Alexio might be within the throes of one. We believe he’s coming into his own as a Tomorrow Person,” Charles Hathaway explained.

Carol and Jennifer both reacted the same way by visually looking at each other, prompting an unexpected laugh from the two of them. Mr. Hathaway was perplexed by their reaction.

“I don’t believe there is anything funny about this, you two. Honestly, there are times I can’t figure you lot out when it comes to these special powers you have. I just…”

Carol suddenly gave her father a kiss on the cheek.

“Father, we shared a quick telepathic reaction, and it pertained on how you seem to encounter telepaths wherever you go and you only have your daughters to blame for it,” Jennifer said.

“Similar, but not as….no, actually, you’re right, Jennifer. Truly, father, there are times I think you could use a vacation from all this,” Carol said with sympathy in her tone.

Charles Hathaway sighed, “Well, of course it’s never easy to bring up two young girls who have the audacity to have special powers in the family. I always figured I would have to worry about buying tampons at the store for you or having to put up with the female emotion perplexities of female adolescence.”

The three members of the Hathaway family couldn’t help but have a good chuckle at their father’s old-style way of looking at the world. While there was still some truth to how he had wanted these ways to be retained in the family, Charles Hathaway had come to a hard-won understanding that he would never have his daughters going about their life in the old-style traditional sense of them going to college, getting married, and being a homemaker. Not like during his father’s time, obviously. Carol had been the one to always remind him that if that was how he wanted his married life to turn out, he wouldn’t have married her mother, who had already had a developing career as a journalist when they had first met.

“Okay, right…getting back on track, how should we go about this, Carol? We could get Narcissa here or one of the other telepaths,” Jennifer said.

Carol thought for a quick second. “No, we can handle this. There’s no reason to distract Narcissa or Nova about this. Just a routine breakout.”

“I’m not so sure if it’s routine, Carol,” Mr. Hathaway said.

“Why not?” Carol demanded.

“Well, the family has had Alexio going to some kind of psychiatrist for the past few months, something of a personal nature. I’ve met their doctor last week and he struck me as….I felt he didn’t have the boy’s best interests at heart,” Mr. Hathaway stated.

“Did something happen to him after his appointment?” Carol asked.

“No. He was still the same person. He wasn’t under any hypnotic or mind-altering spell that you all have experienced during your time as a Tomorrow Person. It was something that I just picked up from this Dr. Rudolph Menze. He’s the one who has been treating Alexio. Carol, are you okay?” 

Charles Hathaway caught the intense, response on his daughter’s facial features, a look of recognition when he mentioned the doctor’s name.

“I don’t know…I’ve heard that name before, but I can’t remember where.” Carol said with some frustration and suspicion. 

“I’ve never heard of him,” Jennifer said simply.

Charles Hathaway started the car again, eager to get back to the Malken/Delgado estate. “Well, the sooner we get there, the sooner the two of you can figure things out. While this is routine for you two, your mother and I still have video to edit. Also, I’ll keep Dana out of your hair, as she also has some camera shots I’m eager to have developed and put in the documentary.”

Carol nodded as she looked ahead, still trying to figure out where she had heard of Dr. Rudolph Menze before.

Jennifer, however, began bombarding her father with questions about how the family had been coming along with the documentary and if they had gotten any footage of the “cool” places in Rio De Janeiro. 

***

The Hathaway family finally came upon the Malken/Delgado estate after another twenty minutes of traveling. As her father and sister left the car, Carol decided to telepathically call up to TIM.

|Hello Carol. What can I do for the vacationing young Federation ambassador?|

[Hello, TIM. How are things going up there?]

|Very quiet. Marhk has arrived and has parked in orbit above the Earth just a few minutes ago. Marhk will be jaunting down to see Andrew and John regarding the logistics of connecting me to the Havenshire Castle basement hopefully within the upcoming week|

[How intriguing. Jennifer said she was going to help out with that endeavor]

|I am expecting she still will be. John called out to the Federation to see if Marhk could possibly come here within the next week or two to help with some of Andrew’s ideas, as he did not want Andrew to “blow himself up” with some of his more out-of-the-box ideas|

[Well, another Tomorrow Person giving John a run for his money regarding biotronic capabilities? After some of the work Andrew did on the Starbird with Staarla, I have to say I’ve been quite impressed with the young Scottish boy. No wonder Jennifer gets along with him so well]

Carol said.

|Yes. Andrew is quite intelligent; however, it has been noticed that he wants to disregard his duties to the family business, prompting his father to take a sterner approach when it comes to balancing his familial duties with those of the Federation|

[Well, you know TIM. The impatience of youth and all that]

|There seems to be a bit of tension in your voice, Carol. Is there anything you need help with?|

Same ole TIM. He can still recognize when I’m in distress or worried about something, Carol thought appreciatively.

[Two things actually. The first; Jennifer and I believe we’ve stumbled on a breakout with the stepson of one my father’s friends, we’re going to need a matter transporter in case we have to jaunt him anywhere. The second…I was wondering if you could look up all the information you can about a Dr. Rudolph Menze. Apparently, he’s a psychiatrist our breakout has been seeing for a while, and for the life of me, that name is familiar to me. I want to know why that is. I wouldn’t ask but you know how I get with my suspicions about people just by hearing a name and the emotional resonance that comes from the person who has spoken said name]

|Of course, Carol. I shall jaunt a matter transporter band to your coordinates. I shall also research this Dr. Rudolph Menze. I should have answers for you within the next twenty-four hours, conservatively speaking, as wireless from orbit tends to take a bit more time, unfortunately|

Carol received the matter transporter band as she got out the car. 

[Thank you, TIM. I know you’re most eager to get back to Earth and have information connected to you at the tip of your…finger tips, so to speak]

|I am, Carol. Keep me abreast of your updates with our new breakout|

[I shall TIM. Seems to be the month for them. How are Kenny, Stephen and Tyso doing with their own?]

|Hans is doing quite well with his training. He does seem to have an affinity for comic books and movies, which I suspect, is helping him to adapt towards being a Tomorrow Person|

[Yes, we all have had our ways of adapting the best we could. Talk to you soon TIM]

Carol couldn’t help but release an outwardly laugh at her own response towards adaptation when she first came into her special powers. Her time spent when she was getting used to these abilities was…an intense time, to say the least. 

Well, time to meet you Alexio Delgado. Carol thought to herself as she climbed the cobble steps toward the residence.

***

For the remainder of the day, Carol and Jennifer got to know their father’s professional associate and his family. The adults spoke of their background associations with each other and how Mr. Malken had found himself in Argentina. Alexio was thirteen, the same age as Dana was. Carol noticed how her younger sister had indeed, taken a shine to the intelligent and highly opinionated youngster. She knew Dana had developed a major crush on him, as it was the only way she would even listen to anything related to politics. Alexio was of thin build, with light skinned tan color throughout his physique, similar to his mother who was slightly more brown-skinned. It was later that same evening when Carol and Jennifer were actually able to have a conversation with him about the usual things going on in his life. Of course, Dana was nearby keeping a watchful eye on him.

“So, you play any other sports besides soccer, Alexio?” Jennifer asked.

“No. I enjoy this sport. Christopher seems to think I have a shot at playing on one of the better teams, but I think he’s just trying too hard to get on my good side,” Alexio said frankly.

Carol almost asked who Christopher was but then remembered that he was talking about his stepfather.

“What happened to your father?” Carol inquired.

“He was murdered by the military junta, overseen by the United States,” Alexio stated in a quiet angry tone.

Carol immediately apologized for prying into his personal business.

“No Carol, please, you’re a guest in this house and my passion about the going’s on here in my country cause me to forget my place sometimes. You couldn’t have known, and we never discussed this earlier. To answer in an abbreviated way, my father had liberal ties and views about what has been happening here in Argentina. The junta got wind of his activities and took him away. My mother and I never saw him again. From time to time, I’ve gotten information from radicals and I found out that my father was tortured and killed in prison. The letter my mother received from them said he had died of pneumonia. Anyway, I’m tired from the day’s activities. Turning in early. I shall show you a few sites tomorrow that many of us kids go to from time to time. Places we’re not supposed to visit, which makes it exciting. Good night,” Alexio said tiredly.

Carol and Jennifer also bid him good night. As he was about to turn the corner, he paused, his right hand going to his head like he had a headache. Carol and Jennifer felt the slight pain telepathically also but before anything was actually said or acknowledged, Alexio quickly turned around and directed a focused stare at the two Hathaway girls. For extended seconds, he just continued to stare at them.

“Did you feel that?” Alexio asked.

Both young women cautiously regarded Alexio, unsure of what to say. Both had knowledge of knowing the potential dangerousness of coaxing a newly emerging telepath too soon. Usually a few extra days would be needed to figure out how to bring the telepath to breakout safely.

“I’m sorry,” Alexio abruptly said. “As you know, I’ve been having headaches of late. They’re kinda driving me a bit insane, actually. I’ll take my leave of you. Good night.”

Alexio hurriedly left the room, leaving Carol and Jennifer to regard each other over the occurrence which just happened.

“He’s not a Tomorrow Person, you know.”

Both sisters turned to Dana, who had obviously and silently, watched the proceedings from the opposite side of the room.

“Still eavesdropping, I see,” Jennifer chided her little sister. 

“Well, that’s what you’re here for, right? This wasn’t a family get together. This was to see if you could make a friend of mine into one of your Tomorrow People. Don’t lie,” Dana demanded.

Carol slowly stood up. “Dana, we’re not here to take anyone away from you. But if Alexio is a Tomorrow Person, then he’s at a dangerous stage in his breakout. You know this, now stand down little sister.”

“Oh yes, the ‘little sister’ name when you insist there will be no argument. Well, I’m here to tell you something, big sister,” Dana came up to her until she was just a few feet away. “Please, leave him alone. He’s not a telepath.”

Carol was put off-guard by the unexpectedness of Dana’s softness in her tone. “Dana, you know we don’t have a choice when it happens.”

“He’s been through enough. Don’t make him out to be a Tomorrow Person,” Dana subtlety pleaded with her sister. Ending the conversation as she walked out the room.

Carol gave Jennifer a look of quiet exasperation.

“What a drama queen. She’s really hung up on him,” Jennifer reacted in a mean way.

Carol shook her head. “We’ve all had a long day. We should go to bed ourselves. We’ll figure things out in the morning about how to best resolve this. There’s no doubt he’s in the beginning stages of breaking out. Let’s sleep on it, and no arguing with your sister in the meantime.”

Carol caught Jennifer grumbling about something as she retired to her bedroom. She couldn’t make out what she said under her breath, but she could telepathically sense it had to do with the prior family dynamic, possibly even before they became Tomorrow People. But since she was tired, she resolved to not worry about it until she had a good night’s sleep first.

***

Jennifer sleepily woke up to a soft light hitting the window of her bedroom. She vaguely heard a voice coming from where the second bed was and turned over to find Carol sitting up on top of the blanket, having a conversation with TIM. Seeing that Carol was already dressed, Jennifer wondered just how long she had taken an afternoon nap for after their active morning.

[TIM, what about his background? Is he legit?]

|Dr. Rudolph Menze has been known as a sort of renegade in the medical community. His backgrounds are, shall we say, dubious at most. However, he is a fully licensed and practicing physician. Hadassah School of Medicine, Class of 65’. He is also known to have utilized government agencies for black ops clandestine experimentations, and seems to have utilized the services of our own SIS, with connections to Colonel Masters and Major Turner from time to time also. I would be very cautious around this man if you encounter him. He is not to be trusted|

[Carol, how were you able to know about him just by his name?]

Jennifer asked as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes.

Carol regarded her sister with surprise, as if only now realizing she was awake.

[I don’t know, I might’ve unconsciously caught some of Major Turner’s surface thoughts when I last encountered her]

|If this man was a constant thought within Major Turner’s thoughts, then this is only confirmation that he should be avoided at all costs|

TIM remarked sternly.

[Yes, TIM. I believe we shall. But what we do know is that it’s more than likely that Dr. Menze has Alexio and we’re going to have to go in and rescue him]

|I don’t understand, rescue him?|

[His parents said Dr. Menze picked him up earlier this morning for some tests which Alexio didn’t tell them about. Dr. Menze assured them that he would be taking care of him. They’re both concerned as would I, and rightly so. Legal formalities require that at least a guardian accompany a minor to any physician appointment, even if it isn’t technically life threatening. I’m afraid if we hold off any longer, something terrible is going to happen with Alexio]

Carol explained.

|Then this seems to be the day for the Tomorrow People to be utilizing their talents. Stephen, Kenny, Tyso, and Hans are currently in orbit attempting to repair the Federation ship Marhk came in; Elizabeth, Andrew, and Marhk are having to observe delicate calibrations at Havenshire requiring their constant presence; and John, Tricia, Warren, and Kim are searching for the man who shot John’s father, who is currently in critical condition and being operated on at one of the local hospitals. Autumn is with Mrs. Halloway as we speak|

[Oh no. I hadn’t heard about John’s father] 

Jennifer said with alarm in her telepathic voice.

Carol thought for a second before a thought came to her.

[Mr. Bell…he’s performing tonight at a venue here. The concert isn’t until later tonight, we could have him help us get Alexio back in time for his performance]

|That is an excellent idea, Carol. The more of you there are, the better chance of you all accomplishing this mission with little public fanfare. I shall matter transport you a few stun guns to better your chances|

[What if Mike doesn’t want to come? From what I heard, he sounded pretty adamant that he wanted to be on this tour with his band]

Jennifer replied.

[I’ll just have to pull ambassadorial rank on him. I also recall that one of the reasons John and Elizabeth gave their personal blessing was because he explained he could find Tomorrow People in places that they would otherwise not think of while on this music tour. I’m inclined to give Mr. Bell the benefit of the doubt. He’ll come with us]

Carol said.

|I realize your experiences working personally with Mike are extremely limited from a few years ago, I absolutely have no doubt you can count on him, Carol|

TIM said with high confidence.

[That’s good to know TIM. Also, please tell John, regarding his father…all my hopes]

|I shall let him know, Carol|

Carol regarded Jennifer knowingly. “Well, time to visit Mr. Bell, then.”

***

The band had been practicing for a few hours now and had finally settled to get some lunch. Everyone was out the door, with just Mike wanting to have one last go on a drum riff he felt he could do better at.

Mike was all set to have a private go at his percussion instruments before he went with the band when he felt a familiar presence. He looked around and eventually saw a few recognizable figures in the side stage. He smiled as he got up and went to welcome his friends.

“Carol, Jennifer. This is a surprise. Are you here to watch the performance tonight?” Mike asked as he gave a quick hug to Jennifer and a more civil handshake to Carol.

“Hi Mr. Bell. As much as we were looking forward to this, I’m afraid we won’t be able to,” Carol said.

“Oh? What’s going on then?” Mike asked.

Carol paused a bit before continuing, “We have a new break out developing. Unfortunately, there have been…complications regarding a physician, whom we believe does not have Alexio’s best interests at heart. We could use your assistance in getting Alexio to safety.”

“Of course, I’ll help out,” Mike said, prompting a surprised reaction from Carol.

“Mike, there is a possibility we might not get this done by the time you have to perform tonight,” Carol stated, using his first name unexpectedly.

“No worries. I’ve come up with a few excuses for missing out on a performance. I just hope I won’t have to use all of them up within the next few weeks, that’s all. Honestly, I’ll be fine,” Mike said confidently.

Carol nodded briefly. As she watched Mike setting his drum sticks up and put a few things in their place, she recalled how for some reason, she had always been so formal to him by calling him by his last name. Even during the homecoming lunch at Forbe’s Castle a few months ago, she had done the same thing when she talked to him. It was puzzling her.

“Well then, we should get going then,” Jennifer replied as she went towards the back leading to the outside.

“Right, after you, Carol,” Mike said.

“Um…of course. Thank you, Mr. Bell,” Carol said.

While the trio of telepaths walked toward the vehicle they would be using to get to where Alexio was, Carol had a peculiar thought about why she always seemed to treat Mr. Bell….Mike, at such arm’s length. Even when she met him three years ago and he had helped with Jennifer’s breakout, she had been so…cool towards him. It was something she couldn’t seem to explain. But it was something which would have to wait until later. They had a mission to perform.

After an hour of traveling, the group finally came upon the property which Dr. Menze’s laboratory was housed. Between the three of them, they could already briefly feel Alexio’s emotional telepathic voice coming through. 

“Feels like this Alexio is close to breakout,” Mike mentioned as he strapped the stun gun around his waist.

Carol nodded. “He’s close, but not in any serious trouble, yet.”

|Carol, can you hear me?|

[Hi TIM. We’re here at the complex where Alexio is]

|You must get Alexio out of the complex. I was able to do more research and Dr. Rudolph Menze is in Argentina illegally. He does not have an official license to practice in the country, but was able to pull some strings with the right people, who have since been….detained by their government. Unfortunately, my information gathering has tipped off the appropriate authorities, who are even now, sending government officials to close him down|

[TIM, would it be helpful if we just waited. From what it sounds like, the official authorities will be coming and take Alexio out anyway]

Jennifer pathed.

|No Jennifer. Because I cannot access more information due to my own challenges regarding the repair of Marhk’s spacecraft, I have no way of acknowledging which people within these agencies can be trusted. The Argentinean government would assume Alexio is of a status, deemed necessary to be put away, like his father was. I highly advise to get Alexio out of the vicinity|

[How much time do we have TIM?]

Mike asked.

|I have been able to track the authorities and they will arrive within the next fifteen minutes, Mike. I must apologize for my lack of communications, as I have been involved in various emergency situations in the past few hours. I have only just now been able to technically track the authority’s actions|

[Not your fault TIM. If you can, stay with tracking the Argentinian authorities]

Carol pathed.

|I shall do that, Carol. All of you, be careful|

Carol wiped her forehead with slight frustration, catching her hair as her hand went all the way to the back of her head, “Damn, I wish Kenny was here. He could figure a way in and out of that place quite easily with the limited time we have now.”

“Couldn’t we call him down? He is with TIM right now,” Mike recalled.

“No, you heard what TIM said. He’s needed in orbit with the repairs,” Carol reminded the young drummer.

“I would say the direct approach should work.”

The unexpected voice prompted Mike into a reactionary stance, hand wrapped around the grip of the stun gun, and facing a familiar young girl.

“Dana?? What are you doing here?” Carol exclaimed in shocked recognition.

“I hid in the back, hello,” Dana said.

Jennifer raised her eyes in exasperation. “Hid in the trunk. Great.”

“Dana, are you absolutely mad?” Carol demanded an answer from her youngest sister.

“I’ve been here before when Alexio went to his appointment a few weeks ago. If we move quickly, I can help us get in and get out before anyone is the wiser,” Dana said.

Carol closed her eyes tightly in intense frustration and quick thought. It wasn’t supposed to be this way, risking her youngest sister’s life in the ever-decreasing window of opportunity they currently had. She opened her eyes, hissing out breath as she focused a stare at Dana, which could’ve shot daggers if it were possible. She retrieved the matter transporter band and roughly, put it on her sister’s wrist.

“You will not take this off. It’s set to take you back to the Delgado estate if things go wrong. All you have to do is press this button on the left. You will listen to everything I say, do you understand me, Dana?”

“Okay, okay. Stop roughing me up, you’re giving me a stress headache,” Dana replied.

Jennifer could only shake her head at her sister and wondered not for the first time, if she had ever been that ignorantly stupid at her age.

Mike was quite impressed with how Carol was managing with this totally unexpected situation. He motioned Jennifer to place her stun gun within her jacket and to take off the holster. If what Dana said was true, the holster would only draw unwanted attention to them and they would need every advantage.

“Now we’re just going to have to hope that we can get Alexio out of there since we’re short a matter transporter,” Carol said.

“No worries, Carol. I carry a spare in case I run into a new telepath. I’ll just set the coordinates really quick and we can get started,” Mike said.

“You truly do rock, Mike!” Jennifer said more loudly than she had expected.

The four young teens of various ages quick-paced to the building. It wasn’t hard as the overall environment was still on the busy side with various people walking about, doing their own personalized jobs and errands. Still, it was a frustrating walk as Carol and Dana began an argument regarding Dana’s presence here. Dana commented that she wanted to make sure Alexio was fine, stating she had been concerned about him. Jennifer insisted that her crush on Alexio was on the boundaries of being unhealthy if she couldn’t comprehend that they had been on a dangerous mission to rescue the young teenager from a physician who could ‘utilize creepy experiments on him’. 

[Carol, I’m starting to hear Alexio again. He’s close to breakout]

Mike said.

[Right, okay]

Carol said.

They stopped quickly as they came upon the revolving door entrance.

“Dana, can we go about another way?”

“No, we should be able to go through here. I do know a back way through one of the emergency doors from the third floor,” Dana said as she absently rubbed her head.

“Yeah, done no doubt by roaming around the halls without telling anyone,” Jennifer said sarcastically.

Carol gave Jennifer an intense look which her sister knew all too well and refrained from chiding her younger sister even more. Carol turned back to Dana, who seemed distracted.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, too much stress giving me a headache. I’m thinking you were right, I shouldn’t have snuck along,” Dana said.

“Well, too late now. We’ll discuss this matter when we get back home. Lead on and remember what I said, the first sign of trouble, you use the matter transporter to get out of here,” Carol hoarsely whispered.

The foursome proceeded inside, walking casually and purposely. Presenting an image of a group that already knew where they were going and had been at this place countless times before. Men and women in mostly professional suits passed them by, paying them no never mind. Dana led them all straight to a set of elevators ahead of them on the right side of the open area. Mike was somewhat wary that people didn’t pay them too much attention, considering the type of everyday clothing they had been wearing, contrasted with the well-dressed individuals going about their business. 

“Lots of people purposely minding their own business. We should definitely stay attentive. Something about this place doesn’t feel right,” Mike whispered.

“Agreed,” Carol said.

[Mind talk from here on out. I’ll keep Dana in the loop when I need to. Everyone be on alert]

Carol said.

Both Mike and Jennifer nodded in agreement as the elevator came up to the floor they needed to get to. Alexio’s voice was getting louder as the doors opened.

[We’re going to have to do this quickly, Alexio is close to breaking out]

Mike pathed.

“The office that we went to is straight ahead through those glass doors, and the last door on the right,” Dana said quietly.

“Where is the emergency exit you talked about earlier?” Jennifer asked.

Dana pointed to a double-doored entrance on the immediate right side, across the way from the immense area of the floor they were on now. 

Carol took a quick look around, “Okay, you take a seat there, away from the cameras. Do not move, the less they see your face in the videos, the better. You understand, Dana?”

“Yes, I do. You don’t have to dictate to me. I know I messed up,” Dana said with a combination of regret and confrontational attitude as she rubbed her head uncomfortably.

[We got to get going, Carol] 

Mike warned.

[Right. Hands on stun weapons. We’ll be going straight into the lion’s den. Mid-setting, so the worse they’ll have will be headaches afterwards, but enough to knock them out for the next twenty minutes. Hopefully more than enough time to take our leave of them]

Carol replied.

[We’re going to knock all of them out?]

Jennifer asked, somewhat shocked at Carol’s direct and focused stance.

[Indeed. Aggressive negotiations]

Carol responded.

Mike was starting to become more and more impressed with this woman. Not that he hadn’t gone in with stun guns blazing before, the retrieval of Hsui-Tai from the Shansu temple around this time last year was the best example. But Carol had a focused, no nonsense approach and wasn’t afraid to take charge and to do what was necessary to assure an outcome that benefitted them. Briefly comparing her from the first time he had interacted with her over three years ago, she had definitely learned some new ways of getting a job done.

The three moved in sync, focused on the two women at the front desk behind the double glass doors. As soon as Jennifer opened one half, Mike shot at the woman on the left, while Carol did the same to the woman on the right. The two females dropped to the floor slowly. The three continued to perform this ritual with each door they passed, dispensing stun shots to people they had found. 

[TIM, how much time do we have? How close are the authorities?]

|They are still over seven minutes away, Carol|

TIM replied.

The three arrived at Dr. Menze’s office and flung open the door, only to find a number of people pointing weapons squarely at them. Before Carol could say anything, a voice from an undisclosed speaker told them in no uncertain terms that the weapons contained barlumin and they would need their special powers to help Alexio come into own powers…or die. 

Carol, Mike, and Jennifer reluctantly gave up their stun guns and stood there, while a figure in a white lab coat came up to them from behind a door in front of the telepaths.

“Salutations, Tomorrow People. I’m Doctor Rudolph Menze. It is a pleasure to finally make your acquaintance.”

The trio of telepaths looked at each other for a bit before turning their attention to Dr. Menze again.

“You know who we are. This is good. Because you should also know that we’ll be taking Alexio with us and the local government authorities are on their way here within the next five minutes. You have that time to allow yourselves to get away, so we can obviously fight again some other day,” Carol stated confidently.

[Well said, big sister]

Jennifer pathed.

Dr. Menze smile increased, “Yes it was. Well said obviously…’big sister’.”

Mike’s brow imitated the others as they realized that their host had somehow heard Jennifer’s telepathic words.

“You’re telepathic?” Mike burst out.

Dr. Menze ignored Mike’s question. “Now listen carefully, for I shall only repeat this once. First, we have, in this office, a telepathic listener. It can pick up telepathic thoughts on this floor and transmute them for normal audio. I believe it was a device Jedikiah utilized when he went after one of your kind many years ago. Second, we have a shield installed that I believe your Carol has encountered within the past few months, it prevents you from…how do you call it…..jaunting away. Third, I believe that Alexio is on the verge of breaking out, and as such, you do not have time to argue, any more than you should. You will either help him, or he will die. The choice is yours. Afterwards, my associates will bring you all to our main facilities to better understand your abilities.”

The trio of telepaths glanced at each other, already confirming what the other knew. They would have to help Alexio come into his special powers now. 

“And don’t worry about your companion in the back, she’s being watched safely. No harm will come to her,” Dr. Menze said.

Dana!

Carol gave the physician a cold look as she walked with the others to the back room where Alexio was at. One of his associates opened the door and the trio came in to see Alexio hunkered in a corner, clutching at his head. Jennifer was the first to physically reach out to the young boy. 

“Who are you? Why are you doing this to me? All these voices….they’re so loud. Make them stop!”

Jennifer looked up at Carol and Mike. “It’s time. He’s ready.”

“We should link at the table, then,” Mike said as he prepared a few chairs.

“No. I want to utilize a more direct approach with Alexio. Since there’s three of us, we’ll triangulate around and link directly over him,” Carol said.

The three telepaths stood over the suffering young boy, their fingertips pointed at each other, gathering their telepathic energy to help stabilize Alexio through his breakout. The voices being heard were beginning to be overwhelming but the trio continued to push Alexio through. They could hear the boy crying out telepathically to make it stop but they continued to press on. 

[Open you mind!]

[Breakout!]

[Alexio!]

Throughout the intense procedure, Carol felt not as winded as she had been during her prior participations of breakouts. This specific idea of being directly over a new breakout somehow had managed to mute the loudness of their telepathy, which was usually hardest affected during the procedure. Now it was time for the next part.

[Okay. We’re almost there. Okay, we’re going to come to Alexio’s physical level now. We’re going to touch his head directly and take up some of his pain. It should be evenly distributed throughout]

Carol ordered.

[What will that do?] 

Jennifer asked.

[Just keep concentrating]

Carol snapped back.

Alexio had felt like his head was going to explode, the pain was so intense. But slowly, gradually, he was beginning to become more aware of his environment, himself, and felt more connected to everything then he had ever had before. His connection began to coalesce with a girl he had a great concern for and he called out to her.

[Dana…]

[You’re almost there, Alexio. Dana is here]

Mike said.

For just a split second, Carol thought she heard her youngest sister’s voice within Alexio’s thoughts. It actually sounded panicked and scared. But then the voice went away, followed by the normal rhythms and sounds of a fully telepathic individual. 

The trio of telepaths dropped their arms and were relieved that it was finally over. Most were wet from their perspiration of the past few minutes and took this moment to calm their bodies and thoughts down.

“Dr. Menze, I need for you to bring Dana here with us,” Carol said firmly.

“Already happening as we speak. However, I’m afraid I’m going to have to tranquilize the lot of you now. I can’t have you all gathering your strength to jaunt away as we transport you to our main facility,” Dr. Menze said as he signaled for his men to utilize medical needles a few had already had in their hands.

Carol shook her head. “You can’t do that! Alexio is still weak and needs to be coherent. He still doesn’t have proper stability of his abilities and he could jaunt and be stuck in hyperspace. Since you know about us, then I’m assuming you know about how dangerous breakouts can be to new telepaths within the first twenty-four hours.”

“Survival of the fittest then,” Dr. Menze replied uncaringly.

[Dana!!]

It was a combination of an audio and telepathic scream which automatically prompted the trio of telepaths to reactively cover their ears with their hands. Carol briefly saw Dr. Menze pull out what looked like an audio device from his ear and tore off a medallion type item off from his shirt. Before she could figure what was going on, she heard and felt what seemed to be an explosion of some type coming from outside the room. The rumble continued as she heard the external, incoherent screams and yells of Menze’s associates as she realized that her sister was still out there.

“Alexio, you have to stop! Get control of your telekinetics!” Mike yelled out. 

The noise continued as another telepathic scream put even more of Dr. Menzes people out of the running, clutching at their ears. Alexio opened his eyes to look at this stranger who told him to stop.

“But…I can’t!” Alexio cried out.

[Carol! Help me!]

Both Carol and Jennifer’s adrenaline shot up to their limit as the voice they heard was of one they had sworn to protect with their lives. They quickly looked at each and simultaneously used their heightened telekinetic abilities to throw the remainder of the distracted men against the walls, including Dr. Menze who immediately passed out after crashing into a nearby bookcase. 

“Mr. Bell, get ready for Alexio to jaunt,” Carol demanded as she quickly rose to go outside the room. Jennifer tagged along and they both were in shock at the chaotic scene which greeted them. And in the center of it all was their sister, Dana. They both could feel her adrenaline infused telepathic and telekinetic abilities coming to the fore…and she was terribly scared of what she was doing.

[Carol, Jennifer……help me…]

The two sisters did not hesitate to come toward their sister who promptly fell in their outstretched arms.

“All the telepaths here…..it prompted her to spontaneously breakout!” Jennifer exclaimed, concern for her sister evident.

Carol shook her head. “I suspect she’s been breaking out for a while now. Being in close proximity to Alexio all these months must’ve set it off. We can discuss this later, we have to leave now. Let’s get with the others.”

The two sisters were on either side of Dana, helping her walk and telepathically giving her soothing thoughts after this massive ordeal. Mike was supporting Alexio as he came out to meet them in the room.

“Blimey! Dana?” Mike asked, already knowing the answer.

Carol was about to call up to TIM when a shining object caught her eye. It was the medallion which Dr. Menze and his associates had worn to hear their telepathic talk. She quickly reached down to grab one. In the distance, they could hear personnel and sirens coming to the floor.

[TIM, we’re going to need a major boost this time. We have two new Tomorrow People who brokeout. The coordinates are already set]

Carol demanded of the biotronic computer.

|Acknowledged. Jaunting you…now]

As Carol was disappearing, she caught the far door opening with whom she assumed would be the local authorities, to take away Dr. Menze. However, not even a second later, they had arrived at the Delgado residence. 

***

The next thirty minutes were a controlled chaos as Carol and Jennifer put Dana and Alexio through the rest of their breakout, while Mike had taken it upon himself to bring Alexio’s parents up to speed regarding their now-changed son. Mr. and Mrs. Hathaway also joined in the discussion, to help their friends come to, at least, an acknowledge of what had become of their son. 

After Dana and Alexio were resting and Alexio’s parents became deep in conversation with the Hathaways, Mike decided to go to the kitchen to gather up his thoughts and relieve himself of the emotional intensity which was still present in the household. He was extremely tired. It was at that moment that he truly appreciated that John and Elizabeth hadn’t forced him through a standard breakout when he came into his special powers. All the stories from Elizabeth, Stephen, and even Tyso hadn’t prepared him for what was to come, and to be in the center of two breakouts happening simultaneously was uniquely intense. Even the breakout of the Irish twins, Maeve and Muirine back in May had felt like a walk in the park compared to what happened this time. He heard someone coming down the stairs suddenly.

“Mr. Bell, I’m sorry. I hadn’t realized you were taking some time out for yourself,” Carol said tiredly.

“No, you’re fine. I was just getting a glass of water. I’ll leave you alone,” Mike said.

“Stay….please,” Carol asked.

Mike felt slightly like a deer caught in headlights, but he quickly recovered and put on a pot of water at her suggestion. It was then that they just were quiet, taking in the events of the day and regarding each other with…something. He turned his head fully to regard the young blond woman.

“Well, you’ve certainly had quite the day, Mr. Bell. How do you feel?” Carol asked.

“I’ve had quite the day? Speak for yourself. Your sister just became a Tomorrow Person. Huh, all of your sisters are now telepathic. I should be asking you that question,” Mike replied.

“Yes, well…that’s something that will take some getting used to. The family will be taking all the time we need to figure this one out. I’m more concerned about my behavior regarding how I’ve been treating you,” Carol said.

“I don’t know, I mean…you’ve been treating me fine,” Mike stammered a bit.

Carol had a non-convinced look on her face. “Mr. Bell…..Mike, as you’ve noticed, I’ve had a very hard time not calling you by your last name and I’ve always seemed to come across to you in a rather…chilled way. And considering how your…reputation has proceeded you, I’ve been quite surprised at the amount of leeway you’ve given me regarding this aspect of our association. Care to enlighten me as to why this is?”

Mike had to admit that Carol had a bit of a disarming way of keeping people at ease, himself included.

“Well, you’re……nice. I mean, you remind me a lot of my mum. She’s always been caring and concerned for me and my younger sister. She’s had to really sacrifice a lot to keep us above board because of our situation with our dad and money. And because of those experiences, well…she’s someone that doesn’t have time for ridiculousness. Maybe it’s a family thing, I mean, you have two younger sisters and I understand how that goes, having siblings and all,” Mike said.

“I always assumed you had a thing against authority figures. You’ve butted heads with John more than a few times, and I’ve heard that you don’t get along too well with Tricia Conway at all. I’m a Federation ambassador and I was quite prepared to pull rank on you if you refused to come along with us to retrieve Alexio,” Carol stated honestly.

“I figured. But you would just be doing your job, as would be your right with your status. I hadn’t thought about this until just now, but I do seem to have always had a thing against adults or kids my own age who don’t have siblings. It felt like there was no way they could understand me, so why bother to listen? Besides…..um….I think I’ve been developing a bit of a crush on you since we first met three years ago. It’s probably why I’ve never said anything about your proper formality with me. But working with you this last time, you know what you’re doing and what to expect. I’ve always appreciated that type of honest motivation from anyone. You have a lot of qualities which I find understandable and attractive. And with all that’s happened, I can’t believe I said all these things just now.”

Carol could see Mike’s face flush slightly red at that last revelation. “Well, we’ve both been through a rather intense emotional experience together and this does prompt peculiar conversations such as this. But yes, I have thought about my arms-length approach with you recently. Even when we first met three years ago, I was rather cool towards you. Truthfully, I’m certain these are old ways of thinking that I’ve been regarding you in this way. I come from a more economically advantaged level of living and you don’t….and there have been times when I’ve encountered individuals of your status and…. well, things never seemed to go right. I’ll admit, that I probably had a hand in the “upper crust” mentality. I just thought that I had overcome that type of thought process in the past year, but apparently old silly habits die slowly and stubbornly, and I hope that you can accept my apology if I’ve done you wrong with these assumptions.”

“No, that’s okay. I’ve felt that same attitude come from me from time to time also. We’re only human. We haven’t had any chances to actually work together and if we are, well, we should know a bit about each other. Let’s face it, besides helping you with Jennifer’s break out three years ago, we haven’t worked together in any direct capacity. And I’ve a feeling with all these break outs that have been happening the past few months, we just might be doing this a lot together more often.”

“Well, as long as you know I do have a family which I’m committed to, for life,” Carol reminded him.

“Of course. I realize that. However, you should know that I’m quite honest with my observations and I will state what’s on my mind…hopefully in a tactful way. And much like you have, you’ll never have to guess where I’m coming from. You’ll always know, even without telepathy,” Mike said firmly.

Carol couldn’t help but smile in appreciation at Mikes total honesty. “I appreciate your candor, Mike. And you’re right. We are probably going to be working a lot more together in the near future, I have no doubt.”

“And you called me Mike. That’s a good start,” Mike said.

Carol recalled her recent words and released a laugh, finally feeling at ease around the drummer of the Fresh Hearts band. She quickly gave him a hug, surprising him with the friendship intent.

“You truly are one of us,” Carol heartfeltly commented.

Mike continued to flush red in his cheeks again, feeling a bit embarrassed and self-conscious, especially now that Jennifer had quietly arrived. He excused himself for some water and looking at Carol with a newfound respect, went out the back door for some fresh air.

Carol couldn’t help but inwardly chide herself for revisiting such stereotypical feelings against Mike. But now that it was under the water, she honestly couldn’t see her Tomorrow People friends being without his company in some way. She soon felt the presence of Jennifer and turned to receive a look of utter annoyance, her arms crossed, prompting a questionable raised eyebrow to come from her.

“What is it with you anyway?”

“What do you mean?” Carol said.

“First Stephen, then Warren, I think even John had a bit of crush on you for a minute maybe, Narcissa…and now Mike? Is there anyone whom you haven’t romantically affected with your…. presence?” Jennifer asked.

“Well I haven’t affected you yet,” Carol quipped.

Jennifer refused to be baited with the joke. “We’re sisters, we don’t count. Honestly Carol, you’re starting to give me a complex.”

“How peculiar, lately I figured you and Andrew might start something. You’ve been working together in such close proximity since the crew got back from Earth’s past,” Carol said with a half teasing, half serious tone in her voice.

“Working relationship is entirely different from a romantic one, dear sister. Besides, Stephen…”

Carol caught the frustrated hiss and emotion coming from her middle sister. 

“Even after all these years, you still have a thing for him. Whose hung up on whom now?” Carol said softly, recalling those exact words her sister had given to Dana earlier.

“Well, it’s been three years, with the absolute majority of it being on opposite ends of the galaxy; Stephen being cured of the virus on Raxacaliber IV and myself living with your husband so your son can telepathically know his mother through memories. There exactly hasn’t been much time for any kind of romance,” Jennifer said.

It wasn’t until now that Carol had realized the full extent of her sister’s love for her and her sister’s potential capacity for romantic love. She also realized how much Jennifer had sacrificed for her own family while she had involuntarily been away for those years. She gave her sister a tender and sisterly embrace and they stood that way for a long time.

“We should be having a chat with our youngest sister. I’m sure she’s either a bit on the terrified side, or the annoyed side. She always stated she was happy to not be a telepath and now here she is….a bonafide and full-fledged member of the Tomorrow People. I’ll go and see to her while you talk with TIM about our successful mission,” Jennifer said.

As Carol watched Jennifer go up the stairs, she watched as her sister stopped in mid-step and look back down towards her. “You know, there really isn’t anything I wouldn’t do for you, sister.”

Carol regarded Jennifer with such love, she felt her heart would burst.

[The same goes for you, you know?]

Jennifer responded with what seemed to be a sad smile, which caught Carol a bit off guard as she watched her sister ascend the staircase. A quick thought of what might’ve been revealed with that sad smile hit her soon enough, however. Before special powers had gotten ahold of the Hathaway family, Carol remembered how it always seemed Jennifer had to fight for attention in the household, but since she had come into her abilities, she had the time to truly come into her own person and really be seen as one who could contribute to the family in important ways. And with her developing talent for spacecraft design and engineering, she was confidently hitting her stride. Now with their youngest sister being a telepath, Carol had the feeling that Jennifer was thinking that things would revert back to being the same as they were when they were younger. She made a mental note to talk to her about how things could never go back to how they were before they had powers. She wouldn’t allow Jennifer to slow herself down. 

|Carol, are you there?|

[Hi TIM, I was just getting ready to contact you. Everything is fine with Alexio and Dana, we have some important news to give to you and the others]

Carol immediately took out the small medallion which she had swiped from Dr. Menze and looked at it, thinking about using her token object reading powers on it to find out it’s past. 

|That is good, Carol. I look forward to hearing what you’ve found in your search through Dr. Menze’s laboratory; unfortunately, this might have to wait for the time being. I have bad news to dispense to you|

Carol began to have a worried frown develop on her face almost immediately as she absently put the medallion back in her pocket. She prepared to listen to what TIM had to say.

***

Carol was silently moving toward the noise within the main room in front of her. Everyone was still awake, even Alexio and Dana. A part of her could understand why. There would be many questions coming from parents and children about these special powers which had been acquired. But unfortunately, the more detailed answers would have to wait.

“Carol, what wrong?” Jennifer asked.

The look on Carol’s face as she came into the living room where everyone was seated, was not one to be expected, especially after finding out one’s sister had become a Tomorrow Person.

“Jennifer, I need for you to watch Dana and Alexio for the next few hours. John’s….”

Jennifer immediately became concerned as she saw her older sister choke up a bit. “John? What about him? What happened?”

Carol looked at Jennifer and her younger sister, glanced at her parents with anguished emotions running through her. 

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, I have to go. Give me a little time….Mike, we have to go.”

Mike was just as puzzled as Jennifer was, but to look at Carol and to empathically feel the varied emotions coming from the young mother, was of a familiarity which he had felt from his mother when she received bad news about a close friend who had passed away.

“Carol…?”

Carol nodded quickly, “Mum, dad, I promise I’ll get in touch with you in a few hours. Dana, I promise I’ll come back and help guide you and Alexio through the rest. Just…don’t use your abilities…I promise you’re in good hands with Jennifer, I have no doubt.”

Mr. and Mrs. Hathaway were on the verge of getting up from their seats, but Carol put a hand up.

“No, look after your friends. They need you,” Carol said as she quickly regarded Alexio’s parents who were quietly looking on.

Carol practically ran out the door, followed close behind by Mike who was still in the dark on what had made her so emotional.

“Carol, hold on. What’s going on? What happened?”

Carol turned to Mike and gave the musician a tight embrace, surprising him with the intensity of the hug, which to Mike, felt more of a desperate type of embrace than a friendship hug she initiated from just a short while ago.

|Carol, I just received word from you husband, Narcissa. Are you ready?|

TIM contacted.

[We are TIM. Just give us a few seconds to put our jaunting bands on]

Carol responded tearfully.

Carol immediately disengaged from Mike who began fumbling for his jaunting band he had in one of his jacket pockets.

“There’s been a death, Mike. John’s…..”

Mike could see the blond woman choking up again.

“Hey, he’s going to be okay. We’ll get there in seconds,” Mike reassured her.

[Okay TIM. We’re ready, jaunt us in]

Mike said as he put a comforting arm around Carol as they disappeared from the cabin area.

***

Jedikiah took in the scene of the calamity which destroyed Dr. Menze’s laboratory. They had been careful to avoid the Argentinian authorities who had gotten word of the physician’s illegal work in their country. 

“I am assuming you accomplished your mission in England.” Jedikiah calmly stated.

Dr. Menze watched as Jedikiah listened dispassionately at the voice on the other end, seeing an increasing frown develop on is face.

“Well…this is unexpected. But it still falls within the parameters of the plan. We’ll just have to adapt a bit. If you left behind the medallion like I said you should, then this will still put the original plan in motion. And yet, the addition of these two specific Tomorrow People could prompt a double-play, which can be beneficial to us. For the time being, you’ve done well. When you return, I’ll check the readout to make sure these two are whom the data says they are. This could be exactly the type of long-term experiment which needs to happen, since the Federation imbeciles are too cowardly to allow for this to happen.”

Dr. Menze looked around morosely at his office and lab. So much work and data…lost. He was angry, and he intended to utilize that anger to tell Jedikiah once and for all what he thought. 

“So, instead of our own telepath, we will now have to deal with two new telepaths in the future. I’m not sure how this will help our cause, Jedikiah. Just what do you believe you’re doing and how will this help Lord Sogguth?”

“You’re becoming braver, Dr. Menze. I can appreciate that. What you presumed to initiate would not have helped us, Dr. Menze. Your experiment required short-term solutions, the type I have used before with these telepaths when I first came into contact with them, with limited results. Utilizing the technology wherein you can hear telepathic talk audibly is one which I also had felt certain would help me attain these telepaths when Raash had need of their assistance. It was my first time to this world. But enough talk. Zetner is waiting and I believe I have an idea…a long-term idea which I believe will result in certain ways to destroy the Tomorrow People of Earth. We’re done here,” Jedikiah said in no uncertain tones. 

As Jedikiah was clicking in the coordinates to matter transport themselves to the nearby airport, Dr. Menze noticed that his medallion enabling him to hear telepathic talk was missing.

“I think the girl, Carol, might’ve taken it,” Dr. Menze said thoughtfully.

“Excellent. The image will look familiar to her, and with the other medallion found on the premises of Mr. Dixon’s family, this should start to jog their memories about me and psychologically prompt them to be aware and cautious of my probable presence, making the plan more accessible,” Jedikiah rumbled.

“And what is this plan, Jedikiah?”

“On a need to know basis, Dr. Menze. Believe me when I say you will be involved, and it will all make sense to you. The authorities are coming, let’s be off now.”

Before Dr. Menze could reply, Jedikiah had initiated the transport, leaving behind the physician’s destroyed and abandoned path to the Sogguth’s better graces, for now.


End file.
